Spiders aren’t everyone’s ‘thing.’ However, I’m fascinated by them and this time of year is a bonus as they’re everywhere hanging in the middle of their webs. A few days ago, I went “hunting” unsuccessfully, for a spider which is a new arrival to our shores (1920s): the wasp spider. I knew we had them locally as I’d seen them some time ago and managed to take a few photographs of them in the middle of their amazing webs. One of these photographs I manipulated in Photoshop and used as the front cover for my collection of Anansi the Trickster Spider stories.

Whilst “hunting” for our local wasp spider population I had this nagging feeling that while researching Anansi I had also came across a few proverbs that related to the skills spiders have in forecasting the weather. I also had this feeling I’d saved these nuggets for use at a later date. So, I went rummaging and sure enough hidden away in some obscure file I’d saved these pearls of wisdom.

Photograph once manipulated in Photoshop

As I haven’t had an excuse to use them and feel they’re relevant to this time of year I thought I’d share some of them with you.

“Spiders strengthening their webs indicates rain”

“Ants are very busy, gnats bite, crickets are lively, spiders come out of their nests, and flies gather in houses just before the rains.”

“If garden spiders forsake their cobwebs, rain is at hand.”

“Spider creep out of their holes and narrow receptacles against wind or rain; Minerva having made them sensible of an approaching storm”

So, next time you see a spider take a note of what it’s doing. You never know it may be a little more accurate than the weather forecast.